West Highland Way Race 2014

For some races, indeed most races, supporting a runner means turning up at one or two points in the race and cheering loudly when your pal runs past. Supporting a race like the West Highland Way Race is a different story - it's a special privilege, a tough, challenging job, but one which is rewarding, fun, worrying, entertaining, inspiring, motivating, exhausting, exciting and humbling in equal measure. This was my second year as part of a race crew, and I hope the second of many to come.

Warning: This is very long. I make no apologies - it was a long day!!

Amanda had asked me to be part of her team, which over time grew and grew, to the extent where I was a little worried beforehand of being 'in the way' on race day, with no real role amid a cast of thousands. Amanda, on the other hand, was confident she had picked the right team for her, so once that was made clear, I started to get excited. As it happened, there was only one point during the entire day where I felt things got stupidly crowded and I was most definitely in the way when others took control, but maybe I'll come back to that. The day, on the whole, was just incredible and awe-inspiring - as well as fun. You find humour in lots of things when you've not had much rest but a lot of caffeine and sugar, and I talked to the dog a lot, which I understand dog owners regularly do, but I'm not a dog owner. ;-)

I went through to Milngavie early, getting a lift with Richard Dennis who was good company for the drive. He was volunteering, and to my mind had the rough end of the deal getting Rowardennan as a marshal spot - that's one if the worst places for midges, by far!! He was in great spirits, though, which I realised as the day went on was true of pretty much EVERY marshal and volunteer. It's a great team Ian Beattie (and Sean) put together. After Amanda and I had had some dinner, we headed to registration nice and early, so I had chance to chat to some very familiar faces, and a few big squishy hugs as well. I could have stayed for ages, wittering on with people I don't see all that often, but Amanda was ready for the off, so we headed back up to the hotel room for some more last minute rest.

When we arrived at the train station later, things were a flurry of spotting familiar faces, grabbing quick hugs, and meeting up with Clark. Once we got to the car, Amanda presented me with a gift bag, and I thought "yay, I get a hoody!" - only to open the bag and find a hoody, team tshirt, bottle of prosecco, and some sweets and flapjack. Blown away!! The tshirt went straight on - it had a quote on the front which caused a lot of interest over the day: at least, I think the quote was why people spent the day staring at my chest.... I strongly maintain you don't crew races like this for the swag, but that said, squeeeee! So grateful. But now I had a bag of loot, I had to earn it...

After the race briefing, and a hug and positive words to Amanda, I headed under the bridge up into Milngavie and found a spot to cheer the runners past, chatting with some of the other supporters. The runners came past shortly after 1am, in a blur of headtorches and legs, I had no idea which one was Amanda, but I cheered loudly every 15 seconds or so, anyway. Plus, I knew quite a few other runners, so by the law of averages...... ;-) After the last had gone, I headed back to the car park, speaking briefly with the lovely sweep team, and with more supporters. The race was on, and my job was just beginning. I headed back to the car.

Clark and I drove to Beech Tree Inn - being a first timer, Amanda had decided she would like us to be there just in case she wanted to change something or wasn't happy about something - last year they'd opened to sell hot rolls and drinks, but this year all was in darkness. Shame, they'd have had money from me, but I had some tea in a flask, so I was okay. ;-) We lined the route, and soon enough the front runners came through, the leaders going at a hell of a pace - I calculated they'd averaged 7 minute miles over the first 7 miles, just incredible. Again, as the runners all started to pass, they were all a difficult-to-spot blur of head torch lights and legs, so I decided that I would look for Amanda's distinctive calf sleeves, and the silhouette outline of her plaited pigtails. :-) Meanwhile, Clark and I chatted to other supporters, and Cori (Clark and Amanda's dog) enjoyed a bit of attention. As runners passed, and supporters left to get in their cars, it got quieter, and then Amanda arrived, running steadily and in seemingly good spirits. Then she was away, and so were we - on to Drymen. This was the first place where the midges were out in force, as we headed up to stand with other support crews. This isn't a necessary support crew point, so we hadn't really brought many supplies up from the car - just some water, I think? Can't remember. She was fine, anyway, and after she'd gone, we headed to Balmaha, as the sun slowly started to rise.

We parked and walked over to suss out the lie of the land, and I asked Davey who was in the lead, getting the first indications of what was going to be a VERY exciting day for the front of the race, and resulting in a frankly outstanding "day at the office" from Paul Giblin! Clark was getting eaten alive by the midges, and I was getting wound up by them being every-fecking-where, so we headed back to the relative safety of the car, to take our head nets off. We figured we could get about 45 minutes rest here, before we had to get ready for Amanda's arrival, so we sat back, and shut our eyes. There's too much going on, though, and it's all very interesting, so I kept fluttering my eyes open to see who was passing by - lol, getting entertained by a runner and support opposite. But I still got some decent rest, and then we set about getting things ready for Amanda's arriving, and I headed down to meet her coming in to the checkpoint. She arrived bang on target, and was in and out smoothly after a few minutes with us. Things were going okay, which definitely takes some of the nerves off. As Clark packed the car back up, I headed to Oak Tree to buy a cuppa and use the bathroom. I whinged at Rhona (Queen LaSweepa) about the evil bitey bastard midges. Always good to have a quick moan at stupid o'clock in the morning, I think - but I had tea, and things were going well with Amanda. So, onwards!!

Rowardennan next, and f*cked if we were going to get out of the car unless COMPLETELY necessary!!!!! It was midge heaven, there, and Clark was losing the will to live with the bites he was getting. Poor Cori wanted to go jump in the loch, too - he pretty much wanted to jump in every body of water he saw, as the day went on, lol. Don't blame him...! Way less bitey. We had a short rest here, and then after a while, we spotted parking spaces opening up closer to the check point, and moved the car so we had a close-by view of Amanda arriving. Terribly selfish, but we knew what she needed here was within easy reach and didn't involve heating anything up, so we stayed put until we saw her arrive, at which point we got out, and shouted/waved her over. She was still bang on schedule!

"I'm a bit tearful." she said. "Good tears or bad tears?" I asked. "Not sure yet." ...We got her sorted out, cleaned up, change of top I think, fed a little, and refilled bladder and bottle. No chafing or rubbing to worry about, and Clark and I had ummed and ahhed a bit about things like suncream or re-applying midge repellent, but it was still a bit early in the day, so I think I just reapplied the Smidge, and left the sunscreen to later. She headed off, and Clark and I packed up and got the hell out of midge-Dodge. :-) In retrospect, we should have started giving her Garmin a wee power boost by this point, while she was in checkpoints, but hindsight is marvellous, and in the grand scheme of things a fuelled, cleaned-up runner with a well-stocked backpack and positive encouragement to send her on her way is better than one with a Garmin with 62% power instead of 54%...

There's a reasonable gap of time until you see your runner after Rowardennan, as Inversnaid is drop-bag only - but there's quite a drive too, so off we set. We used the time to get a bacon roll in Balloch (where Cori nearly happily deserted us for a gentleman who's leg smelled of his female dog in heat...), and a bit of a nap by the loch (in a carpark which went from near-deserted to inundated with tourists in seconds!), and for Clark to let Cori have a wee bit of a splash, and then we headed to Beinglas farm. Here, Mike and George were directing traffic, and we asked if we could be a bit closer to the checkpoint because Clark's back (slipped disc) means he's finding walking pretty tough without a stick - was good to see more familiar faces volunteering, and then even more so when we headed up to the checkpoint to find Helen and John marshaling and greeting the runners through. Amanda had texted us to say she wanted a chair and change of shoes here, so we brought the things up from the car, together with a chicken wrap Clark had made ("...I don't have lettuce or anything, do you think that's okay?" - lol!), and a few other odds and sods. Bob arrived here, another member of Team Hamilton, and the first to join Clark and I over the day. When Amanda arrived, Bob set to work changing her shoes, Clark fed her, and I refilled water bottles/bladders, and applied sunscreen to every visible bit of skin I could, without getting any in her eyes or mouth...! She sat for a bit while all this was going on, trying to get food into her (but she was mostly feeding it to the dog, which wasn't going down well with us), and John wandered over with a "are you still here?!" - so with that, she was away.

Thus began our afternoon of crazy logistics with cars and support runners - we gave Bob a lift to the end of the farm track to his car parked in the Drovers Inn (you're only allowed one support vehicle in Beinglas), and we decided to head to Green Welly for something to eat and to catch the beginning of the Midsummer Relay - we arrived just in time!! I legged it over to give PH a hug, while Ian B was starting his countdown. "Best of luck, Pete!" I said, while Ian said "10 seconds to go!" - "How's Amanda doing?" asked Pete. Lol, now was not the time for a conversation, so I said "She's doing great, under target - you have a great run!" and quickly moved back, as the relay got underway. We stayed there for a few minutes cheering other runners through, including the topless Johnny Fling who had been causing quite a stir with his general state of undress all day. ("all he needs is to grow a beard and his hair long, and he's all set!" I heard, in a nod to reknowned ultra runner Timothy Olson...) Then along with the Moonertys and Aurel, the six of us went for a cake and cuppa in Green Welly.

After a nice wee catch-up, and wishing Davie and Aurel the best for their legs of the relay, Clark, Bob and I needed to get to Auchtertyre. Again, the one-car-only rule was in force, so Bob took his bike off the car roofrack, and set off down the road, while Clark and I drove. Auchtertyre is the first point where support runners are allowed, and Amanda had asked Angela (or Angela had asked Amanda, I forget which) to run with her from here. Only thing is, we had no idea where she was. We got a text from Dave Meldrum, the 5th member of Team Hamilton (do keep up...) saying he'd collected Angela from Bridge of Orchy, where she'd left her car, and was on the way to us. I explained he couldn't drive in, but maybe could sweet-talk Mrs Mac, since by this point the car park was reasonably empty. Dave, to his credit, didn't even try - he dropped Angela off at the bottom, and drove away. However, this was all happening faaaar too close for comfort. Amanda was about 10 minutes away, and there was no sign of Angela at all!!!

After a chat with the ever-lovely Running Gannet, who was in charge of parking here, we had to get back to our job! While Clark got food and suchlike ready (I think he was heating up water for mugshots now) I grabbed the weigh-in card, and headed up to the checkpoint scales, to wait. The whole time I was there, I was thinking "what if Angela doesn't arrive by the time Amanda's weighed and has eaten something? Is Bob ready to run this leg instead? Or maybe Amanda will meet Angela at the bottom of the road.... Is Angela ready? Does she have water?" and so on... panicking, quietly, to myself, I spotted Amanda coming along the road, just as Angela arrived at my shoulder, bright and cheerful, without a care in the world. Thank. F*ck. :-) Amanda got weighed in, and we got her to the car.

I asked if she was okay with her top or wanted to change again, and she looked down at her top a little confused, replying with "I got gel on it." - ummm, okay. :-) By this point, she was no longer eating any pretzels in her pack, and I'd known from asking beforehand that she didn't have any other form of salt, such as salt tablets or, indeed, table salt, as she'd just been planning on sucking pretzels if she could no longer eat them. But she wasn't doing this now, so I went into my own snack supplies, and pulled out a bag of salted peanuts. I put them in Angela's hands, and said "Make sure she gets nuts, even if she just sucks 'em." - much hilarity. But it was a worry - if she wasn't getting salts, there could be an issue later, like cramping or other things like that, or worse. Angela was on the case, and Amanda would NOT be getting away without getting some salt inside of her!!!

Then, they were gone, and Clark, Bob and I packed the car up, and Bob set off on his bike back to Tyndrum. We followed on, and parked up again at the Green Welly, meeting up with Dave Meldrum, to cheer the girls on when they passed. Clark wanted Amanda to have another couple of swigs of her protein shake here, so that done, they were away up the hill, and the four of us knew we had a couple more hours until we'd see Amanda at Bridge of Orchy, so we told Bob and David to do what they wanted, I think, and Clark and I drove straight to Bridge of Orchy, to park up for another hour's nap. First, though, Clark took Cori for a splash in the water, and I spotted Jo Rae looking troubled in her car with Rob and Jenni, so headed over to see if she was okay. She was DNF-ing, which is never a pleasant experience, after what can only politely be described as a less-than-pleasant experience for the whole of the race so far. Nothing was staying in her, food or liquids, and she was at danger of some serious problems if she continued. It's never a nice decision to have to make, I would imagine, but Jo had her head screwed on, and Rob and Jenni were counselling her best they could. I said some encouraging things, repeated everything Rob had said ("Isn't Sarah wise?" had been the comment aftewards, lmao, while Rob looked for a brick wall to bang his head off...) and commiserated with her as best I could, while confident that for her, this was the right decision on the day. All the time I'm talking to her, I'm wearing a "MTFU and get to the finish!" tshirt, oooops! :-)

Clark and I settled in the van for an hour's sleep, setting an alarm which would give us about 20 minutes to get ready for Amanda arriving - Clark was going to heat up some pork casserole here. We dozed off, and after a while I was aware of some movement in front of me, opening my eyes to find David about to take a photograph through the windscreen!!! lol! Clark also woke up, we both had a kind of sixth sense there, and checking the clock we still had quite some time left - but Dave explained that he and Bob had been spotting runners coming through that had been near Amanda last checkpoint, so she can't be far away - and we shuffled into action.

Indeed, Amanda came in half an hour before we expected her - though she wouldn't listen to any of us telling her how brilliantly she was doing. "I'm too slow, I'm walking too much..." "shush, eat this stew..." - she was a wee bit down, but Angela was on a high, having really enjoyed her stint support-running, and was telling us all how amazing Amanda had been doing. Soon, while sitting there, Clark's phone alarm went off. "What's that?" Amanda asked - "Oh, Clark!" I announced "it's time for us to wake up because Amanda's due into the checkpoint in about half an hour!" - wry smiles all round. Dave was readying to go run on this leg of the race with Amanda, and handed me his bottle of water while he got himself sorted out, and took the bag of peanuts from Angela so that he could take over on the task of "get salt into Amanda!" - shortly, they were away, and sorting out the car I realised David had left his water! Bob grabbed it, and ran off up the hill after them. Clark, meanwhile, poured out some casserole for Angela and I, which tasted amazing and was just what I was needing.

Bob got back, and we discussed car logistics for a while - Angela offered to follow Bob to drop his car at Kinlochleven, and drive him back to Glencoe, so they headed off, and Clark and I went straight to the ski centre - where I immediately went for a cuppa, of course! Cutting a long story short (hahahaha, I can't believe I just said that) Amanda ran a much faster leg than expected, and there was a good 10 mins or so where I seriously thought Bob and Angela wouldn't have returned in time for Amanda getting back, and Dave might have had to run the next section with her!! Thankfully, Bob arrived in time, and dressed to run, although he changed his mind a bit (totally unlike UltraBob to fanny about, eh?) and put warmer gear on. While we were waiting, Ross Lawrie arrived at the checkpoint, and I got a big hug from him (though he was using the hug to check my pockets for Percy Pigs). Amanda arrived alongside Mike Adams, who had been running really well too, and she wasn't feeling great, was pretty emotional, but from what we could tell, was still doing generally okay. I wrapped her hoody round her shoulders here, as she was getting a bit chilled, then when she'd eaten some of the pasta snack thing, she changed into a warmer top, and warmer jacket, for the next section, over the Devil's Staircase. She was away before her brother and sister-in-law had arrived, again because she was so far ahead of schedule (!!! just amazing running from her, so pleased with how she was doing) - but they caught her at the bottom the hill, before joining us back at the carpark. Angela headed home, and Clark, David and I went with Amanda's brother and sisterinlaw for food inside the ski centre cafe. Mmmmm, chips. And more TEA. The world was a better place for it.

After a bit of food, the next important logistical bit was Amanda's brother going to check in at our Fort William hotel for us, and David, Clark and I headed down the road. At Kinlochleven, Clark groaned with quiet horror as we arrived to see loads of people walking around in midge head nets. He stayed in the car for a while longer, as David and I headed into the checkpoint - Dave went for a cuppa, I went for a pee, lol. Then it was catching up with the gang there - aside from the fab crew at KLL (Julie, Elaine, Donald, etc), John and Helen were now the 6th and 7th member of Team Hamilton (seriously) having finished their shift at Beinglas earlier in the day. John's role was to get Amanda to the finish - she knew he'd done this section before, in the dark, and also she knew he wouldn't take any crap from her. His was the MTFU leg! We were there for a wee while, and Clark joined us in the centre closer to the time we expected Amanda in. David went up to the top of the road, in case Bob didn't know where the checkpoint was in relation to the Way, and soon enough, they arrived. Aside from all of her crew, and all of the KLL team, Sandra McD and Ian B were also there, and the Moonertys had arrived too, having had chips in the carpark while they waited. I handed over the weigh-in card as Amanda stepped on the scales, then we sat her down and I'll be honest here, I was overwhelmed by the number of people suddenly fussing around her, and worried about how she must feel, so I stepped away.

She was emotional and struggling a little, and John took complete control of what was happening, as Clark and I kind of had to step away a little. At one point someone snapped something at me about how to fill her water bottle (?!!), and someone else asked why I'd not got anything with carbs in (like I packed the food box?), and I found for the first time that my own tiredness was messing with me a little, as I wanted to snap straight back! I was raging. I'd been there for Amanda from the very outset, and now it felt (to my sleepy, emotional mind, on the start of the sugar crash) that I was being elbowed out of the way so that the 'grown ups' could sort Amanda out where I'd failed. I walked away, as Amanda was being well taken care of, and took some deep breaths and calmed myself down. I was taking this personally, which was stupid, given the whole point of my being here was to act in Amanda's best interests. A few steady breaths, and I'd got control of myself, in time to wish Amanda the best as she headed off up out of Kinlochleven. I knew she was getting that goblet, now. I mean, I never doubted it for a minute the rest of the day, but there's something about seeing your runner head out of Kinlochleven safely that just takes that edge off the nerves.

Bob was starving, after his run with Amanda, and so we went into the Tailrace pub to get something to eat (him) and drink (me and David). It's really awesome they were still doing food late into the evening, I hope they made a decent profit on the night. So may of the local businesses along the route were brilliant, actually! After some rest there, we headed to Lundavra, on the interminably looooong road down to the unofficial 'checkpoint', in the dark - and were greeted by a marvellous bonfire being tended by John Kynaston, with Katrina down by the end of the road. Helen was here now, as were Amanda's brother and sister-in-law, so to say that Team Hamilton were out in force is a bit of an understatement!! I chatted briefly to Eilidh, Ross Lawrie's missus, here, and caught up with the ever-smiley John Kynaston, as he greeted each runner with a burst of music, either the theme from the London Marathon on the BBC, or the theme from Rocky. Marvellous!! As each pair of head torches weaved their way across to us, we tried to see who it was, and eventually John and Amanda arrived. John Munro was quick to make sure one of us was refilling her bottles, and Katrina was asked if they had anything carby on their table of goodies, helpfully supplying digestive biscuits.

When they set off up the hill and away, we laughed as John K commented on how we were pretty much emptying his fireside party - we all went back to the various vehicles we were in, and headed to Fort William. Here, I went inside to see who was around, talking to Noanie as she was face down getting her calves massaged by Emma Hamilton - and congratulating Johnny Fling, who by now had clothes on... lol. We would be there for a while, waiting, so I sat in the car for a bit, and shut my eyes, but when I saw Ross Lawrie go past the car, I knew Amanda would be maybe 20 mins or so behind him, so I shuffled out blearily, and headed back inside. More hugs with Ross, who'd done really well to finish given he'd had some pretty bad niggles earlier in the race I believe, and suddenly I realised that Angela was due to be heading back for Amanda finishing at around 4:30am, when in actual fact it would be closer to 3am she'd cross the finish line! So I texted Angela, who replied she was already here, lol, and her and her dog Brin joined the gang at the leisure centre. The next 10 minutes or so seemed to take an eternity, and that was just for us, waiting, let alone how Amanda's last stretch must have felt for her!!

Then, the cheers from people at the opposite end of the carpark started, and Amanda came into sight. I teared up, as I applauded, and then shuffled to the door with her weigh-in card. She finished in 26:07 - an absolutely incredible time, and so impressive given she was basing her plans on a 28 hour race right from the outset. She got weighed in, and gratefully collapsed into a chair, as people once again crowded around to help her - David put a cup of tea in her hand, Bob sorted her shoes out, and so on. I had brought her hoody in from the car, and she said she didn't need it, could I get her black bag instead. I went out to the car, bringing it back, to be told no, the other black bag.... back to the car, back inside, she said "can I have the hoody?" - omg, back to the car!! lol! Support duties definitely don't finish when the race does, believe me!! Again, here, I felt over-emotional and on edge, so when someone asked why I didn't have a warmer jacket for her (eh? again, I didn't pack her car!) I almost burst into tears. I was letting her down, I was the worst support crew member ever, and so on... lol, I know LOGICALLY that's crazy, given she'd actually finished the race safely, but your mind does weird things sometimes in this sort of situation. But eventually, she got showered, warmed up, and we headed out to the hotel. A mix-up with the room bookings had Amanda and Clark almost blowing their top, but finally - gratefully - we got to bed at about 4am, Amanda and I in one room, Clark, Bob and Cori in another.

So. If you're still here, reading this epic tale of madness, you've either got nothing better to do, or you've found this blog post a month or two before WHW Race 2015 and you're a newbie support crew member looking for hints. I hope you found some! Like... bring a blanket. Get some sleep. Don't take ANYTHING personally. Leave your ego at home. This race ain't about you - it's about the runner. And THIS race was all about Amanda. I'm so proud of her, I can't even begin to put it into words. Looking at her splits, she moved up the rankings at every single checkpoint. Every one. Her pacing was incredible, her focus and determination were inspirational, and I am so honoured to have been part of The A Team. Thanks hon, and for about the millionth time, bloody well done!!!!



PS. Oh, and another important tip for next year. Try and remember to get a team photo before or after the race, to look back on in future. Or, indeed, any photos more than the three or four I remembered to take over the whole day... *facepalm*

PPS. If you're wondering why I haven't mentioned the prize-giving ceremony, it's because I'm finishing this post on my lunchbreak at work and I'd rather not cry in the office...!!